RESUMO
BACKGROUND: The rising incidence and complexity of revision knee arthroplasty has led to an increase in the use of metaphyseal reconstruction systems. One of the most widely used systems are metaphyseal sleeves as they have demonstrated excellent long-term survival. However, there is concern about the possible difficulty of extracting a sleeve if it were necessary, as no known procedures have yet been validated. METHODS: We examined the outcomes of removing 23 well-integrated metaphyseal sleeves using the same systematized technique. RESULTS: All sleeves were extracted without any intraoperative complications. Four subjects required an osteotomy to complete the extraction, while 62% of the sample were found to have an AORI IIB defect. All cases were successfully reconstructed with a new metaphyseal fixation, implanting a new sleeve in 38% of subjects compared with cones in the remaining 62%. CONCLUSIONS: The technique described here produced successful, reproducible outcomes for the removal of integrated metaphyseal sleeves with minimal bone loss and no intraoperative complications.